Birmingham Moseley 23-24 Cinderford

[Communications Team]

by Glyn Barlow

After the disappointment of the opening weekend loss at Caldy thoughts turn to this week’s opponents and new National One visitors to Billesley Common, Cinderford.


Formed in 1886 the team commenced their climb into the national leagues in 2005 when they were crowned South West Division One champions. The first rung up the National League ladder only took three seasons winning promotion to National Two South in 2008. It was then, however, a further ten seasons before the team made the move into National One this season. In 2017/18 they dominated National League Two South winning all bar one of their fixtures, against Chinnor, topping 1,000 points in the season and only missing out on three try bonus points along the way.


Last season’s leading try scorer will be well known to Billesley based supporters in the form of Harry Hone, who made 58 appearances over three seasons for Birmingham Moseley. Harry wasn’t alone in his endeavours as centre Reuben Norville and back row Matt Lane both touched down 19 times with fly half Liam Hemmings close behind on 12. On the kicking front James Moffat profited from all the conversion opportunities to rack up 197 points. Cinderford will however be without Moffat this season as he has made the move to Old Elthamians.


On the recruitment front Cinderford have made minimal changes to their successful squad of last season drafting in Samoan second row Ben So’oialo Chan, prop Tom Heard and centre George Boulton from Hartpury

In a link with Gloucester the team will also have access to Academy players full back Reece Dunn, wing Ed Bogue, back row Aaron Hinkley, second row Callum Allen, Jacob Morris, prop Jack Bartlett and scrum half Ewan Fenley on a dual registered basis.


The team didn’t find their first outing in the highest league of the clubs history too daunting as they ran Rosslyn Park close before losing 29-36, despite a second half comeback. They did however pick up their almost obligatory try bonus point in the process. This league fixture followed pre-season games against Llandovery (won 15-12), Hinkley (won 14-24) and Hartpury (lost 7-34).


Clearly the men from the Forest of Dean should not be underestimated just because they are one of the leagues new boys and certainly Birmingham Moseley will need a much better second half performance than the one at Caldy which saw a seventeen point lead overhauled in the last thirty minutes. To secure the first win of the season the team will need to produce an outstanding defensive performance and will need their pack to be on top form to starve Cinderford of usable ball.


We wait with anticipation to see how the new model Birmingham Moseley team shape up at home.

[Phil]

[Phil]

Cinderford team:

[andyj]

Can I assume that parking will be available in Swanshurst School for Saturdays?

[owain]

New boy on the bench Sam Atkin is a former Scotland Under 20s and 7s player, listed as a Full Back, and also plays on the wing.

In his club career he has played for Edinburgh, Edinburgh Accies and Worcester Warriors after starting at Dunbar RFC.

He played under Simon Cross at Edinburgh Accies, while at Worcester he was part of the same academy intake in 2011/12 that included Mike Penn and former Moseley player Nile Dacres.

He works at Worcester Uni for their Sports department. www.worcester.ac.uk/discover/34274.html

[Shy Spa]

Not only Harry Hone - as mentioned in the Preview - but also James Elliot returning as a familiar face.

[johnblakrot]

Can we have the team please, I know it's on Facebook but I can't read it. The match teams said there were no team set up as off now. 

[johnblakrot]

Thank you.

[Phil]

Sept 7, 2018 16:55:30 GMT johnblakrot said:

Can we have the team please, I know it's on Facebook but I can't read it. The match teams said there were no team set up as off now. 

It’s 5 posts above yours John.

[grooveavenue]

Re: parking.Why not try the all singin' all dancin' super duper TARMACED vehicular parking zone off Yardley Wood Road...you know it makes sense...

[markd]

OK, I'll make a start. Mose kicked off and kicked dead immediately from James Williams' boot. His kicking will be a major asset this season, but he repeated the feat before Mose scored their opening, nicely worked try. Mose were lucky a couple of times not to concede before Cinderford scored a try under the posts and levelled at 10-10. Mose finished the half well with a second try from close range and a monster penalty from half-way from Williams to lead 20-10 at the break. Mose had more of the territory and less of the possession in the first half as, kicking down the slope, the ball was kicked away too often and to little effect. After initial parity in the scrum, Cinderford had also begun to assert. This was immediately evident at the beginning of the second half as Mose conceded to a well-worked fast-moving maul from the lineout which was converted for 20-17. A Williams penalty took the gap to 6 points a few minutes from time but a hasty, miscued clearance led to a lineout for the visitors just outside the 22. The maul brought a penalty and, after the kick to the corner, few were surprised to see Cinderford muscle over and convert to win by a point.


There were bright spots. Buster, in his 100th appearance for Mose, was his usual abrasive self; James Williams played well although kicking away too often and Jacques Le Roux was a real presence from the bench. Unfortunately, most of last season's problems were still very much in evidence. The lineout was a mess more often than not, lots of lateral play without gaining ground, kicking away possession way too often, inability to defend the (admittedly well-organised) maul and no real penetration of the opposition line. Cinderford looked a bit fitter overall and it's hard to complain about the final score because, of the few chances created, they were a bit more clinical. The ref might have used his card on Cinderford - particularly the obstruction from the lazy retreating defender - but overall got most decisions right.

I don't think there is a Hartpury or Coventry in the division this year, but Mose looked to have started well off the pace required. I am not alone in questioning the value of arranging thumping defeats at Coventry and Worcester but the team that wins the division this year will probably concede less than 20 points per game on average. Lots to do still.


Come on Mose!

[grooveavenue]

markd..you got it really good analysis ..I enjoyed the game Cinders were strong and looked a good experienced outfit..BMRFC included so many mew players...like over the past several seasons that it will take time to blend and lets try and keep a squad together for a while ..hey...this is rugby union at the heart...come on you BMRFC..efrs...

[dingle]

Early days yet but not a good start by Bham Mose.  Congrats to Buster for 100th appearance.





Lots more pics at:
www.harishchavda.zenfolio.com
www.dingleimages.com

[Westcountry Mose]

Agree with most of markd's comments. I also thought Josh, Sam P and Ollie gave good accounts of themselves. Fids also steadied the scrum when he came on. However, I thought captain Porter for the opposition was man of the match. I feel we need somebody in the same mould if we are to have any chance of making the top 6. Is there another Ben Evans out there that we could persuade to join us? Conceding that try straight after the break was the killer - 10 point lead cut to 3 within minutes of the re-start. Badly need a win next week.

[kingsheathlad]

Porter their loose head has played in the Premiership and was man of the match.
I thought Pointon was our best player who made yards when running with ball.In the pack Poole was our best player putting in a lot of work.
We don`t appear to run straight always running across the pitch and a lot of the time taking the ball standing still so we make little ground.
Tough game to follow,in fact all games will be,and the teams coming up make the league even stronger with Chinnor winning against Plymouth and Ampthill two fancied teams.
Early days and things to work on in training.
Come on Mose.........

[stevep]

I feel as though it's going to be a long season. Can't fault the players' effort, but we didn't seem to have an effective gameplan, or be able to adapt when Cinderford (who deserved the win) had the upper hand in driving mauls. I'd hoped to see the team put down a real marker for the season in the first competitive home game, and show a response after last week's defeat, but MarkD's post pretty much says it all about the lack of penetration we showed. Let's hope things get better, soon.

[southernmose]

Not much to add to the above really. God knows what's gone wrong with the lineout after it finally being ok last season. Their maul was far superior to ours too (accepting that it's difficult to defend against legally anyway under the laws as they stand) so why keep kicking into touch??

Second half they got their heads together a bit and tried running with it more, but usually sideways more than forwards. Our scrum was all over the place until Tom F came on, when we could dog it out with them a bit more, but I do think (good job as Tom did when he came on) that we've lost some of the dark arts for the front row with the departures over the summer. Not that as an outside centre I ever knew what the dark arts were.... Either way, their first 2 scrums made our forwards look woefully underpowered and given their front row was tipped as something to watch in the programme(!), it does make me wonder why we hadn't started with a more effective combination rather than swapping to it after 15 mins?

Backs and wings were ok for me, and definitely give hope for the future, but the overall impression of the team could be summed up yesterday as "worryingly toothless".

Onwards and upwards.

[southernmose]

Sept 9, 2018 8:12:58 GMT kingsheathlad said:

Porter their loose head has played in the Premiership and was man of the match.

He was good value I agree, but we've got players of our own who've played in the premiership (thank God). Buster tried hard yesterday and as usual popped up everywhere, but Rob Lewis is a class act who makes a difference as soon as he comes on because he's been there and done it.

What we were missing until he came on were a few more wise old heads. Accepting players can't go on forever, we're really feeling the absence of Caves, Molenaar and Penn steadying the ship. Thankfully the last one is coming back, but we (IMO) should have done something about bringing in a couple of committed players on the wind down end of their career over the summer. There're a lot of keen youngsters, but we're lacking the balance of youth and experience in my opinion. 

[nobby]

It is early days but 2 losses out of 2 - one at home - and both losses following decent first half leads isn't a good start. I also noticed the comments about lateral running rather than the direct line and receiving the ball when stationary. Isn't that something coaching should be able to put right or is it a player problem?

[andyj]

Apologies if the answer is obvious but why did Ravai not play? I saw him in the stand during the game.

[southernmose]

Sept 9, 2018 18:47:10 GMT andyj said:

Apologies if the answer is obvious but why did Ravai not play? I saw him in the stand during the game.

It was in the programme notes - knee injury needing “further assessment”

[brighty]

Very long season ahead on Saturdays showing. Cinderford lineouts nearly always went to the no 6 yet no one seemed to do anything about it.

I totally agree no penetration at all, you seemed to know where the ball was going all the time. baring I think 2 or 3 players this is the same players as last year, so they should know each others play, no excuses as I heard some people say its a new team.

Hopefully a lot better next week

Because having seen the fixtures and on Saturdays performance its going to be a few weeks before we see a win.

Finally who is the captain for this year, I was not the only wondering who it is.

Worried supporter

[kingsheathlad]

I think Sam Brown has been captain for some of the games.

[albrown]

Is Buster Club Captain and Sam Brown Team Captain?.

[grooveavenue]

Still settling in I reckon. By the way 11 changes from the team that played the last game of last season. That proves little (Buster was out injured for one) but we have signed a number pre season. As always we have to work on playing together like most of the last 7 or 8 seasons as our best have moved on to usually improve their career chances. Retention has been our bugbear ever since. Cinders' have signed a few but generally last terms promotion squad given a chance and why not!

So 5 pints for 5 points at Stortford then !!

[Shy Spa]

The forwards look pretty much like last year, when they came together well in a season of transition. The lineout must be suffering from the loss of Ryan Roach in the first five minutes of pre-season, with his replacement(s) only confirmed for the opening game.

The backs needed bolstering for this season; last season seemed to rely on an arrangement with Worcester which seemed to peter out fairly quickly, and the loss of some of our own hasn't helped. Hopefully the new line-up will gel quickly - and cut out some of the basic errors seen on Saturday.

And how successful was that Facebook campaign? The attendance seemed quite low for the first home game of the season.